1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal watercraft having a battery for supplying power.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, so-called personal watercraft have been widely used in leisure, sport, rescue activities, and the like. There are straddle-type personal watercraft and stand-up type personal watercraft.
The straddle-type personal watercraft is provided with a straddle-type seat extending substantially from a center portion to a rear portion over a deck and straddled by a rider. Straddling the seat, the rider grips a steering handle located forward of the seat and steers the watercraft. In a portion inside a body of the watercraft located just below the seat, an engine room that contains an engine is provided. In general, the straddle-type personal watercraft has a seat for one to three riders. Hereinafter, xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d refers to the direction toward which the watercraft moves and xe2x80x9crearwardxe2x80x9d refers to the opposite side.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a stand-up type personal watercraft 51 is provided with a standing deck 53 at a rear portion of a deck 52. The standing deck 53 is a space in which the rider stands and a concave portion having a flat bottom portion. FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view of the watercraft 51, and FIG. 9 is a plan view thereof. In FIG. 9, for the sake of convenience, an engine hood 63 is perspectively drawn without a steering member (handle pole) 56. The handle pole 56 is mounted by means of a hinge 55 in the vicinity of a front end of the deck 52 so as to be vertically pivotable around the hinge 55. A steering handle 54 is attached to a rear end of the handle pole 56. The rider stands on the standing deck 53 and grips the steering handle 54 located in front. An engine room 58 which contains an engine 57 is defined in a space inside a body which is located forward of the standing deck 53. In general, one rider rides on the stand-up type personal watercraft. The stand-up type personal watercraft 51 is propelled by a water jet pump 59.
The above-mentioned personal watercraft is equipped with a battery for starting the engine, displaying meter readings, or the like. As can be seen from the stand-up type personal watercraft 51 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in the conventional personal watercraft, a battery 60 is contained in the engine room 58.
However, the engine room of the personal watercraft is limited in space, and the battery 60 is placed so as not to interfere with the engine 57, an exhaust pipe 61, a propeller shaft 62, and the like. This makes it difficult for the battery 60 to be placed freely. For charging or maintenance of the battery 60, either the engine hood 63 is opened and the battery 60 is lifted through an opening 64 (see FIG. 9) above the engine room 58, or otherwise, an operator puts his/her upper body into the engine room 58 through the opening 64. The similar problem remains unsolved in the straddle-type personal watercraft.
The present invention addresses the above-described conditions, and an object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft in which a battery is easily placed and charging and maintenance of the battery are easily performed.
According to the present invention, there is provided a personal watercraft comprising: a body constituted by a deck and a hull; an engine room formed inside the body, for containing an engine; and a battery accommodating portion for accommodating a battery for the engine, wherein the battery accommodating portion is provided in the deck outside the engine room.
With such a configuration, since the battery is not required to be installed in the limited space of the engine room, the battery is easily placed and charging and maintenance of the battery are easily performed. In addition, this frees space within the engine room to install and maintain other devices.
The personal watercraft may further comprise a straddle-type seat provided over the deck and above the engine room to be straddled by a rider, steps respectively provided on both sides of the straddle-type seat on the deck for the rider to put feet thereon, and deck fins respectively provided externally adjacent the steps that are raised from the steps, and the battery accommodating portion may be provided inside of at least one of the deck fins.
The above-mentioned personal watercraft is a so-called straddle-type personal watercraft. In the straddle-type personal watercraft, sidewall portions formed by deck members are provided outside the respective steps. Since the battery-accommodating portion is provided by using an extra space inside the sidewall portion, the battery can be efficiently accommodated without changing the external design appearance of the conventional personal watercraft. Maintenance or the like of the battery accommodated in the sidewall portion becomes easy as described above.
Preferably, the battery-accommodating portion may be provided at a position adjacent a rear end of the straddle-type seat on the deck. In this case, since the battery is accommodated in the vicinity of the rear end of the straddle-type seat, maintenance or the like is easily performed. Also, since the seat is typically placed along the longitudinal center axis of the body, the battery is correspondingly placed substantially on the longitudinal center axis. As a result, weight of the battery in right and left direction of the body is properly in balance.
In the personal watercraft, the engine room may be placed in a front portion inside the body, the watercraft may further comprise: a standing deck provided in the deck rearward of the engine room for the rider to stand thereon, and the battery-accommodating portion having an openable cover is provided on a front end portion of the standing deck.
The above-mentioned personal watercraft is a so-called stand-up type personal watercraft. The battery is easily installed on the standing deck. As a matter of course, maintenance or the like of the battery installed on the deck is easy. Also, in this case, the battery is provided substantially on the longitudinal center axis of the body.
Preferably, the cover of the battery-accommodating portion may be openably provided to be pivotable around a hinge provided in a deck portion which is the rear end of the engine room and located in front of the standing deck.
Since the cover for the battery-accommodating portion is pivotably attached onto the deck independently of the engine hood rather than integrally with the engine hood, opening/closing of the cover becomes easy.
Preferably, the deck has raised portions continuously raised from a right side, a left sides and a front side of the standing deck, and the battery-accommodating portion may be defined on the front portion of the standing deck by the openable cover and the raised portions. With such a configuration, since the raised portions are used as a part of the battery-accommodating portion, the cover is simply configured and the external design appearance of the conventional body need not be greatly changed.
Preferably, the personal watercraft may further comprise an engine hood to cover an opening formed on an upper portion of the engine room disposed in a front portion of the body, and the cover of the battery-accommodating portion may be provided continuously with a rear end of the engine hood.
In this configuration, the engine hood is extended rearward from the rear end of the engine hood, and the extended portion is used as the cover for the battery-accommodating portion. This configuration reduces the number of parts.
Preferably, the battery may be placed at a center portion of the body in a width direction thereof.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will be more fully apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.